Artifact

Anne Atherton Starrett spent many of her early years sailing with her family. Her father was Captain Henry Starrett of Belfast, and her mother was Ellen Mary Starrett. This chest is made of wood with a canvas cover and stenciled with Anne's initials.

This papier mache toy belonged to Anne Atherton Starrett, daughter of Captain Henry Atherton Starrett of Belfast, and his wife Ellen Mary Cutter Starrett. The painted toy came from Hong Kong or another Asian port, when Anne was a child.

This hand-made dress was Georgia Maria Gilkey's high school graduation dress in 1904, and also her wedding dress when she married Captain Phineas Banning Blanchard in 1906. It is a two piece garment, with a high collar and lace around the peau de soie (silk) yoke. The long skirt has a layered petticoat. The textured off-white fabric has a raised decorative design motif.

This model was built by Captain Henry A. Starrett of Belfast aboard ship. Construction took 7 years and was done at sea while serving as Master of the Thayer and the Levi G. Burgess. The model has carved ivory fittings and silk and wire rigging. Starrett was the master of the Frank N. Thayer from 1874-1878. The vessel was the first one of that name, built for Thayer & Lincoln, a Boston firm, in Kennebunkport in 1868. A 1160 ton vessel, she was succeeded by a larger 1648 ton vessel of the same name built in Newburyport in 1878.

Chinese tea box, decorated with two horses on front. Bottom reads "Per Mails Steamer, Choicest Specialty Selected First Crop Lap Sang Souchong" on bottom. By the time this tea was exported, the fastest way to get tea from China was by fast steamship, the steamship that carried the mail. The days of racing to England with the fresh tea crop under sail were gone.

A display wall showing a number of builder's half models, used to design ships in the nineteenth century on the Maine coast. The lifts or layers of wood are taken apart and measured, in order to lay out the shape of the vessel and its frames for construction. The display also shows a number of shipbuilding tools, including adzes, caulking hammers, a drawknife, clamps, an auger, and a serving mallet.